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Rouse, Appel Tapped to Head College of Ag Departments
Two veteran Auburn University College of Agriculture alumni professors have been selected to head their departments.
Dean Richard Guthrie has announced the appointments of David Rouse as head of the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures and Auburn University urban entomologist Arthur Appel as the new chair of the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
Rouse, who had served as interim department head for the past three years, has been on the Auburn faculty for 24 years. He is an alumnus of the AU fisheries department, earning his bachelor’s degree in marine biology and his master’s in fisheries in 1971 and 1973, respectively. After working several years for the State of Alabama as a water pollution control biologist, he moved to College Station, Texas, where he received his doctorate in aquaculture from Texas A&M in 1981, and then returned to Auburn to a faculty position.
He was selected permanent department head following a national search.
As a professor, Rouse currently teaches a graduate-level aquaculture course and directs graduate and post-graduate student research. His own research efforts as an Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station scientist focus on crustacean and molluscan aquaculture.
In his role as permanent department head, Rouse said his priorities will include upgrading outdated facilities, boosting the department’s focus on water quality issues andrecruiting top-quality faculty to fill the voids left by numerous key faculty members who are retiring.
Replacing retired faculty will also be among Appel’s goals in entomology and plant pathology, as will increasing enrollment in the department’s graduate programs, enhancing the course offerings for undergraduates in a broad range of disciplines and continuing to foster a cooperative atmosphere between entomology and plant pathology. The two departments were merged in 1999.
Appel, who has been on faculty in his department since 1985, assumed his duties Nov. 1 and will serve for three years. He replaces entomology professor Mike Williams, who served two three-year terms as chair and will now return full time to his teaching and research responsibilities. Department chairs are selected from within a department.
A native Californian, Appel earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1980 and his master’s in urban entomology from the University of California, Riverside, two years later. He completed his Ph.D. in urban entomology from there in 1985.
He came to Auburn as assistant professor that same year and was promoted to associate professor in 1990 and full professor in 1997. His research focuses on cockroaches, structural pests and insect physiology and behavior.
Both Rouse and Appel were awarded alumni professorships by the Auburn Alumni Association in 2001 on the basis of outstanding teaching and research.
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News from:
Office of Ag Communications & Marketing
Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)
Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
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